The Gully Snipe — J.F. Smith

“A very many trickster moons ago,” said Tony's grandfather, “and very, very far away... way past where our real world ends and your imagination begins, things were different than here. There was a proud kingdom that had fallen on darker days.”

“The kingdom was known as Iisen, or the Iisendom as it was sometimes called. It was a prosperous and peaceful kingdom, but for years, a cloud had been forming over the land and was worrying the people that lived there.”

“People were disappearing... not many, but when they did, it made the people afraid. There were rumors, of course. Rumors of gypsies and monsters in the woods, but no one seemed to know what was happening for sure. And the people of Iisen, the merchants and hostlers and iron mongers and farmers, couldn't very well hide in their homes and farmhouses. They still had to earn a living. All they could do was hope they weren't the next to vanish one day.”

“But the tale doesn't really start with that. The tale starts with a thief. A thief who had just been caught and was about to be in very deep trouble...”